


The Groceries Centre

by sevtacular



Series: The Eurovision Part of Town [11]
Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF
Genre: Confusing, Gen, Trippy, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 17:35:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10518552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevtacular/pseuds/sevtacular
Summary: If there’s something you need, anything you need, and that thing is food: there’s only one place you can go.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is the answer to the question of where supplies come from, but it also answers very little. Just like The Eurovision Part Of Town itself.

If there’s something you need, anything you need, and that thing is food: there’s only one place you can go. It’s always been there, but it is never there. Constantly changing, always the same. Go to the archives, look back through local history. It will always be referenced, but there’s no evidence. Jamala doesn’t look into it. She tried, and failed, and accepted it. Nobody can tell you anything about it specifically, but everybody can tell you of it. It is sewn within the fabric of The Eurovision Part Of Town. The Eurovision Part Of Town couldn’t survive without it, and yet The Eurovision Part Of Town has survived without it. On the outskirts of the centre, almost an entire village to itself, all contained inside a single building. If there’s something you need, anything you need, and that thing is food: Welcome to The Groceries Centre.

The Groceries Centre is the place which stocks every kind of foodstuff imaginable. If Douwe runs out of bar snacks, he can head there and immediately have packets upon packets of new ones. If Frans has realised he’s out of a rare type of coffee bean, he can head there and immediately have enough to last the coffee shop for months. The Groceries Centre is possibly the most powerful building in the area, aside from the Town Hall. Some say The Groceries Centre was created by Christer Björkman to permanently tie him to The Eurovision Part Of Town. Others say it goes even deeper. They say that The Groceries Centre is the object of Jon Ola Sand, the silent one who nobody ever sees, only hears whispers of over the breeze. Perhaps this is true, perhaps it is not. Nobody will ever know. Maybe nobody has ever known. The Groceries Centre has every kind of food item imaginable. Why should it matter where it came from? It will be around forever, people are certain. And yet, in the history books, it will never have been there at all.

Step inside The Groceries Centre, and head to your favourite aisle. But you don’t have a favourite aisle. You can never have a favourite aisle. Nobody ever has had a favourite aisle. Yet everyone does have a favourite aisle. There are no aisles in The Groceries Centre. Yet there are infinite aisles in The Groceries Centre. All contained within the four walls of the building, there is an unconceivable and uncountable number of aisles, all filled to the brim with the finest quality goods. Step into The Groceries Centre. Go and browse the aisles. Wander forever. Rumour has it people have. They’re probably still wandering the aisles of The Groceries Centre. They will be forever. Always in The Groceries Centre. But never in The Groceries Centre. They need finding. You’ll never find them. Though you can find everything in The Groceries Centre. So long as it is edible.

Some describe the inside of The Groceries Centre as a maze. The aisles: they shift, they move, they morph. If something is popular, the shelves stocking it will be at the forefront of the store. If something has phased out, the shelves containing it disappear into the depths of The Groceries Centre. The Groceries Centre is a force unlike no other. It celebrates diversity as the shelves come together and build bridges. Join us. In The Groceries Centre, we are one. The shelves are us. We are the shelves. Light your fire as you browse the produce on display, and feel your heart beat when you find the perfect delicacy. Here in The Groceries Centre, you’re never alone. Here in The Groceries Centre, you share the moment with everyone else. And yet, you are always alone. The confluence of sound which always fills The Groceries Centre is a true fantasy, and also a deep nightmare. Feel the rhythm of the shelves moving, the shoppers searching, the items changing. Some might say that going into The Groceries Centre for the first time is an awakening to the true magic behind The Eurovision Part Of Town, a reminder that everyone there is under the same sky, searching for the same products. Come on in to The Groceries Centre, come and have a rendezvous unlike no other. A modern fairytale, which you’ll always remember, but never recollect. 

The Groceries Centre is the hub of commerce in The Eurovision Part Of Town. The biggest enterprise around. Everyone is scared of its power. Yet it competes with nobody. When Kaliopi opened her bakery, donuts vanished off the shelves of The Groceries Centre, never to be sold again. But they never were sold. There are no records of donuts ever being sold there. Nobody will ever know if they were. Small businesses which sell food thrive in The Eurovision Part Of Town, they never have to worry about The Groceries Centre. But people know that if a food chain closes down, or the owner moves on, The Groceries Centre will stock all their favourite foods. Exactly the same. Completely different.  
Remember the tale which whispers on the breeze. The tale which you’ve always heard before. The tale which you always forget. The tale which is always new to you. There was a group of women who owned a bakery in The Eurovision Part Of Town. They were old women. They were baking bread. They were providing a party for everybody. Then they retired. But The Groceries Centre stocked their traditional bread. Exactly the same. Completely different. They went to see if it was like their own handiwork, headed to The Groceries Centre. They never left. Some say they still wander amongst the moving aisles, ever searching for their bread. Others say they never entered The Groceries Centre. They simply left The Eurovision Part Of Town to enjoy their retirement. That’s how things work in The Eurovision Part Of Town. People come, people go. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Nobody knows the secrets of The Groceries Centre. Nobody ever will know the secrets of The Groceries Centre. But there are those who know it well enough. Those who, whilst in its employment, can navigate the aisles with ease and speed. But as soon as they are no longer employed by The Groceries Centre, they can never navigate the shelves again. Think of Eva Rivas. The woman who knew everything about fruit and vegetables in The Groceries Centre. She could find anything which was needed. Then she disappeared. Choked on an apricot stone, some say. The history books could never tell you. They have no information. There’s no proof Eva Rivas ever worked for The Groceries Centre. There’s no proof anyone ever worked for The Groceries Centre.

Currently there are some part time apprentices at The Groceries Centre. They go by the collective nickname of O’G3NE and they’re there until they settle down. If they ever settle down. Who knows? They can navigate The Groceries Centre easily, and spend their time replenishing the shelves. Even though the shelves replenish themselves in The Groceries Centre. Perhaps the girls just wander the maze all day, trying to find a specific item. They don’t know their way around properly yet.

The main employees of The Groceries Centre are Donatan and Cleo. And Cleo’s girls. Donatan has never been seen. Maybe he wanders the shelves. Maybe he was never there at all. Cleo and her girls all help customers using their charming beauty and skills. Their speciality is fresh produce, especially now Eva Rivas is no longer around. If she ever was around. They twirl happily amongst the products, and can find customers anything they desire. They even over bonus services. If you need your butter churning so it is deliciously creamy, just ask one of Cleo’s girls. Butter will never be the same for you again. Butter will be the same as it has always been for you. Laundry is also an option. It isn’t food related, but it happens. Clothes are scrubbed and dried and washed by one of Cleo’s girls. But they’re not. They never have been. Not in The Groceries Centre. Cleo and her girls are also adept at advice. If Douwe wants to stock his bar with something exciting, they can tell him just what to buy. Vodka is better than whisky or gin, according to Cleo and her girls. According to The Groceries Centre. The vodka is right next to Douwe on the shelf. He buys it. He was always going to buy it. He never even asked for advice.  
The other current employees are a collective of well-dressed gentlemen. They’re known as Blue. It’s the colour they always wear. They are the masters of the store, completely under the spell of The Groceries Centre. They can, they will, they know, they can find anything in the store. Anything. They can. Some say they are the eyes in the face of fortune. They get divided as they individually seek out specific requirements which a customer has. They get reunited as they all find their products. Some say Blue will be in The Groceries Centre forever. Some say Blue have been in The Groceries Centre forever. Some say Blue have never been in The Groceries Centre at all. There is one thing everybody knows. If you lost your way in The Groceries Centre, they would find you. But then, they couldn’t find you. You can’t find anyone in The Groceries Centre. Everyone is accounted for in The Groceries Centre. Nobody goes missing in The Groceries Centre. Except those that do. If they do. Nobody can prove anything.

There is one constant in The Groceries Centre. A standard in a place of no standards. So there is no constant. It cannot be proved, it always changes, it remains the same. The most well-known yet most unheard of part of The Groceries Centre is the one who does the announcements. The one who greets shoppers. The one who is the voice of The Groceries Centre. This is the voice of discounts and offers. Except there are no discounts and offers. If something is cheaper, it has always been that price. If anything, it is more expensive than it was the previous day. The announcements make no sense and yet they are the clearest thing you will have heard all day. Perhaps The Groceries Centre revolves around the one who does the announcements. Perhaps the voice people come to associate with annoyance and irritation is actually the voice of hope and reality. People never criticised the owner of the voice anyway. They didn’t need to. They don’t want to. The Groceries Centre is defined by its contents. If anything, Dustin The Turkey who does the announcements is as part of the fabric of The Groceries Centre as the food itself. Maybe even more so. Perhaps even less. Many forget Dustin The Turkey exists until they enter The Groceries Centre and hear his voice greeting them once more.

Step inside, hear the voice of Dustin The Turkey greeting you. Ask an employee to find you a product or churn you some butter. Find exactly what you need. Find what you never knew you wanted but you were always going in for. It’s right in front of you. Wander round the shelves, take a look at what you can buy. Then leave. If you can leave. When you are in The Eurovision Part Of Town, you will find yourself having gone to The Groceries Centre. But, when you think about it, maybe you never went to The Groceries Centre at all.   
If there’s something you need, anything you need, and that thing is food: there’s only one place you can go. It’s always been there, but it is never there. Constantly changing, always the same. Go to the archives, look back through local history. It will always be referenced, but there’s no evidence. Jamala doesn’t look into it. She tried, and failed, and accepted it. Nobody can tell you anything about it specifically, but everybody can tell you of it. It is sewn within the fabric of The Eurovision Part Of Town. The Eurovision Part Of Town couldn’t survive without it, and yet The Eurovision Part Of Town has survived without it. On the outskirts of the centre, almost an entire village to itself, all contained inside a single building. If there’s something you need, anything you need, and that thing is food: Welcome to The Groceries Centre.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you managed to make it to the end. Don't do drugs, kids - just read this fic.


End file.
